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Dubai: A major perfume factory has been gutted completely in a fire that threatened to spread to adjoining units for nearly 10 hours.

At least a dozen firefighting engines were pressed into action at Chemcrown International perfumes factory in Ras Al Khor, trying to contain the fire that started around 12.30pm.

A civil defence worker, who was part of the team working to control the fire, said that they have been fighting for the last four hours and may well take another five hours to douse the blaze. The blaze continued until late in the evening.

Thick clouds of smoke could be seen from most parts of Dubai while the police cordoned off the the area, closed the service roads and evacuated people from the nearby warehouses.

Around 25 people were working inside the factory when the fire broke out but there were no reports of injuries.

“We ran out as soon as we smelled something burning and somebody immediately called Civil Defence. When we came out we realised that the fire was already big and within minutes it had spread to the entire unit. I think we came out just in time,” one of the workers, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

Burnt pieces of boxes and glass bottles of perfume were scattered around. Thick plumes of black smoke bellowing out of the factory blanketed the sky above Ras Al Khor and strong winds only made matters worse for the firefighting units.

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